he slammed the very sitcom that's made him millions of dollars. senator dick durbin will join us, former governors tim pawlenty and christine todd whitman and recording superstar dionne warwick stops by. "starting point" begins right now. good morning, welcome, everybody. our "starting point" this morning, turning two bucks and a dream into a fortune. maybe. millions of people across the country are hoping to hit tonight's $500 million powerball jackpot. it's the second largest in lottery history. nobody has won powerball since early october so they've rolled it over 16 consecutive times. the lottery official is calculating that there is just a 5% chance that no one will win tonight. if sale surges are expected, as they are. if you do win the cash value stands at $324 million.

and the odds, unfortunately, of taking home the jackpot are really, really, really, really, really, really low. 175 million to one. alison kosik is monitoring powerball fever live in new york's times square for us this morning. good morning. >> good morning. you know the odds are pretty clinton but it's not keeping people away from buying the powerball tickets, soledad. i bought one ticket. and one is all you need. you got to be in it to win it. i'm in it at least with one ticket. a lot of people coming in today with dreams. dreaming of what they would do with the money. as they get their morning coffee, and head out to work. and also, of course, buy a few powerball tickets here and there. >> alison kosik, if you win, remember, you and me, we're a team, girl. thanks for the update. take a live look in zionsville, indiana, that's, that powerball has a mascot. it has a little puffy circular red man. i don't know why. but he's giving away 3500 free

powerball lottery tickets. first come first serve. the way to bring everybody out. anybody who doesn't get a free one is expected to stick around, pay a couple bucks and buy one. ambassador susan rice will return to capitol hill this morning. she's going to be meeting with two more republican senators. kind of struck out with three of her harshest gop critics. those senators, john mccain, lindsey graham, kelly ayotte, were not satisfied, they said, with the ambassador's explanation for her comments following the benghazi consulate attack. cnn foreign affairs reporter elise labott has more details for us. she's in washington, d.c. this morning. elise, good morning. >> hey, soledad. well, what came out in those meetings and why senators say they're even more concerned, centers around the information that the cia had just after the attack about possible involvement in the benghazi attack that killed ambassador chris stevens and those three other americans. now, ambassador rice did not make reference to this information in her talk show appearances. the unclassified talking points she used were provided by the cia, were stripped of these

references to al qaeda, because the information was classified and couldn't be delivered in public. now, after the meeting, ambassador rice acknowledged those talking points turned out to be incorrect. but that she stressed she and the administration never meant to mislead the american people. and what the senators are saying is, as a cabinet member, ambassador rice is privy to this conflicting information, she should have been more discerning when she went on those talk shows, and that the secretary of state should ambassador rice be nominated needs more independent, not just held to party lines. let's take a listen to what senators graham and ayotte said yesterday after those meetings. >> bottom line, i'm more disturbed now than i was before. >> certainly she misled the american public. i think that she would say that. she'd have to say that. >> now, soledad, ambassador rice is not without her supporters. democrats on the hill say rice's republican critics are still the ones politicizing the benghazi attacks and homeland security chairman joe lieberman also met

with rice. he said yesterday he was satisfied that she did nothing to disqualify her to be secretary of state, should the president nominate her. but, unfortunately, senator lieberman is retiring this year, and he doesn't get a vote. later today, ambassador rice will meet with senator collins, the top republican on the homeland security committee, and senator bob corker, senior republican on the senator foreign relations committee. both have said they have some concerns, willing to hear her out. so, soledad, should the president nominate her, she's certainly getting a chance to sharpen those diplomatic skills. >> what do you think is going on here? i'm really curious. there's a lot of people holding the bag on misinformation, which has now all been confirmed, at least the information was wrong. the cia, certainly the secretary of state, hillary clinton, has said that, you know, she bears responsibility. the president said he bears some responsibility. so why is the focus on a woman who's the ambassador to the united nations, who essentially was acting as a spokesperson? what am i missing here? >> i think a couple of things

are going on. first of all, you know, with -- what the senators are saying is listen, if this is someone who wants to be one of the top cabinet positions in the national security team, and if she is, you know, this goes to the heart of her qualifications. she should have used better judgment. if she had this information, she should have been more questioning about some of the information and saying, hey, listen, we can't go out there. but i also think that there are some senators that want to have some kind of, you know, make someone pay the price for what happened in benghazi. a lot of people very close to ambassador chris stevens, and they also just feel that the administration has a lot more questions to answer about benghazi before they're ready to help president obama have his pick for his national security team. >> elise labott with us this morning. thanks, elise. appreciate the update. christine's got a look at some of the other stories making news. new developments in the deadly garment factory fire in bangladesh. three midlevel managers are

under arrest, accused of locking the main gate of the factory after the inferno broke out saturday. that fire killed more than 100 workers and injured more than 150 others. several thousand people are mourning, and are protesting near that factory. which makes apparel for exports for places like the united states. 34 days left before automatic tax hikes and spending cuts are triggered by the fiscal cliff. democrats and republicans appear stuck on entitlement reforms. democrats don't want deep cuts to programs like medicaid, medicare, social security. some republicans say it's the only way to get a deal. >> the reason we're having these negotiations is because washington democrats have spent money without any care for the cost or the future. and refuse to do anything to protect long-term spending programs like medicare, a failure that's among the biggest single drivers of our debt. >> one out of three people in this country are going to rely on medicare and head cade for

their health insurance. so we need to find ways to preserve these programs. >> senator durbin says the debate over entitlement programs should be fought after the new year. he's going to join us in a few minutes to talk about it. police on new york's long island investigating a deadly bus crash, a 6-year-old boy was killed last night when the driver of that bus lost control and went barreling into the front bedroom of the boy's home. police say the bus driver swerved to avoid hitting a pedestrian. 11 people on board the bus suffered minor injuries. the boy's 7-year-old briere was hurt but not seriously. a rewrite for the kid from "two and a half men." angus t. jones is now saying sorry after he called his show filth and told viewers not to watch it. he said, quote, i apologize if my remarks reflect me showing indifference to and disrespect of my colleagues, and a lack of appreciation of the extraordinary opportunity of which i've been blessed. >> oh, yeah. >> i never intended that. and now former co-star charlie sheen, who was, of course, fired from the show, is weighing in,

quote, it is radically clear to me that the show "two and a half men" is cursed. >> says the man 40 kind of cursed it from the get-go. show is just a complete mess, isn't it? >> sure is. still ahead this morning on "starting point," he's one of the highest ranking democrats in the senate and as you just heard he said the democrats should take entitlements off the table until the fiscal cliff mess is solved. majority leader senator dick durbin is going to join us up next to explain why. and you know those glitch-filled apple maps? well guess what? somebody's head is rolling over that. we'll explain what happened. let's say you want to get ahead in your career.

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but now, one high-ranking democrat says entitlements should be off limits until the whole fiscal cliff mess is behind us. senator dick durbin joins us this morning. always great to talk to you. appreciate your time. >> thanks, soledad. >> now with this latest development, how hopeful are you that, in fact, a deal is going to get done? and what would that deal look like? >> well, we should reach an agreement. the point i made was, when it comes to medicare, we know that it's going to run out of money in twelve years. whatever changes we want to make should be thoughtful changes. not made in the heat of the fiscal cliff. not done in the closing days here, of a lame duck session. let's look at this thoughtfully and make sure at the end of the day medicare is going to survive and be stronger. but i think there is plenty of ground here for us to come together as democrats and republicans, the congress and the president, and avoid the worst parts of the fiscal cliff. >> okay, so what entitlements then? what would you put on the table? right now it's been the narrative is kind of republicans will put taxes on the table, democrats will put entitlements

on the table. and i talked to a couple people that say everything's on the table then they start ticking off all the things that are not on the table, excuse me, so what's on your table that's an entitlement that you'd be willing to negotiate before we fall off the cliff? >> of course. and the social security is a separate thing. it does not add a penny to the debt. we should deal with this long-term survival and solvency, and we can do that in a separate setting other than this last-minute fiscal cliff negotiation. i will put medicare into the long-term negotiation here because, as i said, it runs out of money in twelve years. >> short-term what's on the table? >> what we need to put on the table in short-term is actual deficit reduction. we can do that through mandatory spending cuts in other areas. we can do it through the tax revenue that the president has called for. i think for instance, speaker of the house decided today to call the measure passed by the bipartisan senate to protect all families making $250,000 or less from any income tax increase december 31st, that would put enough revenue on the front end

of this conversation to move us toward a solution. >> but so far i hear from you, in the short-term, no entitlements are on the table. >> only the medicare part of it, i want to be very careful. this means so much and we saw what a mess was made of it by paul ryan's budget, where the actual future of medicare was in doubt with his premium support plan. we don't want to go near that. we want to make sure that medicare, at the end of the day, is a program that is solvent, and we can count on it for generations 20 come. >> so if i'm a republican lawmaker watching this interview i'm saying, okay, he basically has put nothing on the table that's an entitlement. so all this talk about democrat -- and this is talk by the way from you, you're the one who said, you know, we need to be honest on our side of the aisle, we need to make meaningful reforms in medicare and medicaid without compromising the integrity of the program. you and i talked about that not long ago. >> yes. >> if i'm listening to this and i'm a republican lawmaker i'm saying he's put nothing on the table in the short term. we're going to go over this fiscal cliff. >> we don't need to do that. the point i want to make is yes,

entitlements need to be part of a long-term strategy but do it in a thoughtful way. we're down to four weeks here. i don't want to see the future of medicare, major changes, decided in the heat of the moment here. let's get through this fiscal cliff, let's find a way to avert it but let's at the end of the day take medicare and treat it as the important program it is for so many millions of americans. >> i've, i've speak with great respect to you, sir, but we're down to four weeks because of all of y'all, right? we're down to four weeks -- we're not down to four weeks because of me and any other voter. we're down to four weeks because congress has not gotten its act together and now we're down to four weeks and technically less because i think the last day for congress is december 14th. even though the fiscal cliff is december 31st. if you all go home, it's even fewer than 34, 33 whatever days. so i goes, it sounds like there's not going to be a deal. >> well, i think there will be. and just keep in mind, not trying to defend myself or anyone, congress certainly is to blame for the fact this hasn't been solved, but two years ago we had the simpson-bowles commission report which i voted

for. we've come up with alternatives. the super committee which senator patty murray co-chaired, was an effort to try to move in the same direction as simpson-bowles and we didn't get it done. but forget the past for a moment and look to the future. we need to reduce this deficit, we need to have meaningful reform, which includes thoughtful entitlement reform. what i'm suggesting is let's not do this in the last few days here, make changes in medicare that we may regret later on. >> okay. but what, what is to give us the confidence that, in fact, something that's thoughtful down the road were to actually come of all this, right? because the track record is not so great. why would i invest in, okay, i'll give you the let's do reform down the road when there's been nothing in the recent past that would make me feel confident that congress can get it together and actually do meaningful reform in the long-term? >> you have a right to be skeptical, sole soledad. but the point i want to say the cliff december 31st is something we should avoid. those who think it is something we can welcome and bargain with

afterwards i'd like to see us avoid it. i still think we can. i do believe we can. the president and the speaker are the ones who are focused now on the negotiation, both parties have to stand behind an effort to find that bipartisan solution. >> let me ask you a quick question about susan rice, ambassador susan rice met privately with some top senators, kelly ayotte and lindsey graham and senator mccain. she's going to meet today with senator corker and senator collins, and after the meeting, yesterday, senator mccain said he was hard pressed to support her. senator graham said that he's even got more -- he's more disturbed than he was before. since we know now that the intelligence was flawed, and that they -- cia altered the talking points, the president has said he takes responsibility, secretary of state clinton has said she takes responsibility. what do you think is, is actually going on here? >> well, unfortunately, it's become entirely too personal when it comes to ambassador rice. i spoke to her last week. i was in new york and spoke to

her on the phone, and we talked about the fact that she was given an intelligence report which she dutifully reported to the public as she was told. and now what i hear from some of my republican colleagues, they're not only blaming her for this intelligence report, they're trying to blame her for the actual tragic event. >> personal why? >> -- unfair. >> personal means some kind of relationship or something has gone wrong. >> we just keep focusing on ambassador rice. >> why? >> there is a larger question -- well, frankly i think they believe she's vulnerable politically. at least that's their conclusion. it's not mine. the fact of the matter is she had nothing to do with the terrible event that occurred in benghazi. she reported it as she was told by the intelligence agency and frankly they've been piling on ever since and i just think it's gone to the point where it's unfair. >> wolf blitzer asked senator ayotte about the intelligence community saying that, in fact, it was them who deleted the al qaeda reference and that the goal was to protect classified sources and she said this, i'll play a little bit of it. >> it's very different when you

tell someone that individuals with ties to al qaeda are involved in an attack, and you omit that. and i just don't understand how who they were trying to protect with the reference to al qaeda, i mean, we're tipping al qaeda off? i think that al qaeda knows that we certainly have pursued them around the world, and so i just -- this doesn't make any sense to me. >> a lot of this i think it's fair to say doesn't make seine answer to a lot of people. how do you predict that this ends, do you think that republicans will stand in her way and she won't get the job? go with respect to senator ayotte, what the intelligence community was trying to protect was its sources. people whose lives were on the line. and they were making a careful judgment about what they can say publicly that might endanger their sources of information. in terms of the future of ambassador rice i don't know what the president's plans are. she's done an extraordinary good job as ambassador to the united nations. >> the assistant majority leader of the not dick durbin joining us this morning. nice to see you this morning. >> thank you, soledad.

>> still ahead on "starting point," bad news for a nation obsessed with bacon. god, bad news. christine bad news for us. the majority of the pork that you're eating is contaminated. we'll update you on a really disturbing study that's coming up next. ♪ [ gordon ] for some this line is a convenience. how you doing today? i'm good thanks. how are you? i'm good. [ gordon ] but for others, it's all they can afford. every day nearly nine million older americans

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good morning, welcome back to "starting point," i'm christine romans. minding your business this morning, home prices are recovering in much of the country. new home sales numbers come out today. we learned yesterday home prices posted their biggest gains in more than two years in the third quarter. these are the five cities with the strongest gains in the past year. home prices in phoenix gained

20%. minneapolis prices rose almost 9%. only two big cities last value in new york and chicago. another apple maps executive is losing his job. according to bloomberg business week richard williamson who oversaw the maps unit is out. comes after the heads of the operating system lost his job last month over complaints about the maps software, including embarrassments like misplacing the washington monument. quick market check for you -- >> lives in washington, right? u.s. stock futures are down, greece bailout is behind us so for the time being the focus is back on fiscal cliff and the state of the u.s. economy. other top stories for you this morning, former senator and presidential candidate bob dole expected to be discharged from a washington's walter reed army medical center today. an aide says the 89-year-old checked himself into the hospital for a routine procedure and that he's doing well. you might want to put down the pork chop. a new study from consumer reports found 69% of raw pork products in u.s. supermarkets are contaminated by a foodborne

bacteria that can cause fever, cramps and intestinal bleeding. researchers say it means we need better hygiene in animal plants. the pork industry questions the methods used in the study. >> wow. >> cook your meat. >> we eat a lot of bacon on this show. >> the country does or you and i personally? >> the country does. and then you and i personally. >> yeah. >> eat a lot of bake be. awe should microwave it before we -- still ahead this morning on "starting point," might be another stand your ground case to tell you about in the state of florida. teenager shot and killed. the murder suspect says, in fact, he was the one who was threatened. we'll have details coming up in a live report. and then the dangers of belly fat in men. why your gut could be affecting your bones. plus we'll dig in a little more into the fiscal cliff negotiations with former minnesota governor tim pawlenty. he's our guest straight ahead. ♪

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morning, welcome everybody. the so much paper today i can't get it together. welcome. i can't work like that. i know, i know. our "starting point" joining us this morning, ron brownstein the editorial director. roland martin the host of washington watch with moleland martin. will cain, columnist with the blaze.com. great to have you with us. christine sticks around. we dressed together. hey, what are you wearing? let's talk about this controversial law in florida. we talked about it before in the trayvon martin case. it's the stand your ground gun law. might be put to the test again this time. this time a murder suspect claims that he was threatened but there are lots of questions. michael dunn's attorney says he asked four african-american teenagers in an suv to turn their loud music at a jacksonville gas station, says they hurled insults at him, then flashed a shotgun, and then dunn

decided to defend himself, he shot into the suv eight or nine times. 17-year-old jordan davis was hit twice and killed. martin savidge is following those developments from our headquarters in atlanta this morning. good morning, martin. >> good morning, soledad. the latest, by the way, is the fact that there's going to be a memorial service for that 17-year-old youth that's going to take place in florida tonight. meanwhile, the shooter in that case, that's 45-year-old michael dunn, he was arrested on saturday, had his first court appearance on monday. he entered a plea of not guilty to the charge of murder and attempted murder and is currently being held without bond. his attorney has been outspoken on this particular case. and one of the aspects that she describes is the verbal altercation that took place, this was last friday night, and she talked about how it began with some nasty words but es kaleated with, she claims, one of the teens showing a gun. >> kill that mother [ bleep ],

that [ bleep ] dead. you dead [ bleep ] see that much of a shotgun coming up over the rim of the suv, which is up higher than his jet to, and it's -- all he sees are heavily tinted front windows that are up, and the back windows that are down, and the car has at least four black men in it. and he doesn't know how old anybody is. he doesn't know anything but he knows a shotgun when he sees one. >> dunn reportedly then opens fire, authorities said he left the scene because, one, he said he didn't know that he had struck anybody until he saw it on the news the next day. >> he fired into an suv, eight or nine times, and didn't stick around because he thought it probably was all fine after that? this case is so interesting. and i think you're, you're right, it's going to lead to lots of questions about the stand your ground case. martin savidge updating the story for us. other stories making news. good morning. >> soledad, millions of americans are planning to retire

tomorrow morning, as powerball fever grips the nation. tonight's jackpot now half a billion dollars. it's the second largest in lottery history. a record for the 42-state powerball game. the cash payout for a single winning ticket, a whopping $324 million. and climbing. since you're probably not going to win maybe we should all really be planning for retirement. >> do you have yours? >> not yet but i will. we'll all be here i promise tomorrow. the justice department and the house oversight committee are in talks to settle a lawsuit over fast and furious. that was the government's controversial operation remember where guns were tracked across the border into the hands of mexican drug cartels. guns linked to that program, that u.s. government program, were found at the site where a u.s. border patrol agent was shot and killed. the two sides have been fighting over certain documents that the obama administration has refused to give congress citing executive privilege. a commission overlooking

child abuse laws in pennsylvania is a result of jerry sandusky. he's serving essentially life in prison. a bit of good news for penn state, nittany lions head coach bill o'brien was awarded the 2012 big ten coach of the year award. a new health concern for men with big bellies. the type of abdominal fat could indicate a higher risk for bone density loss and broken bones. a new study has found that men with visceral or deep belly fat had weaker bones and therefore a greater chance at bone fractures than men who carry fat just under the skin. >> interesting. and new zealand's capital city overrun by middle earth mania. an estimated 100,000 people lined the streets in wellington for the star shoulded world premiere of "the hobbit." it's the first of three hobbit films which serve as a prequel to peter jackson's lord of the rings trilogy. it has its american premiere next week here in new york.

>> do you think americans will wear those little hats everyone was wearing? >> seems like a lot from that story but if anyone can do it peter jackson. >> those were a masterpiece. >> blockbusters. that's why they made all three, we can probably make 500 million each. >> easily. easily. >> all right. so we've been talking about the fiscal cliff, 34 days left until we go off the cliff. or slide down the cliff. there's been lots of metaphors about that combination of tax increases and deep spending cuts. both sides reporting little progress. the clock is ticking. everybody's talking about compromise. when you get into the details, not that much compromise. let's get to tim pawlenty, a top lobbyist for the banking industry serving as the ceo of the financial services roundtable which represents the 100 largest u.s. financial services companies. it's nice to have you with us, sir, nice to be with us. >> good morning, always good to be with you. >> so this is kind of not your problem anymore as a legislator. but, but i guess it is your problem in terms of your

business, and certainly as a citizen. where do you see realistically the fix for the fiscal cliff coming out? what does it look like? where is it -- where are the compromise points? >> well, soledad, the organization that i represent, the financial services roundtable, and our members are very concerned about this issue. by the way, we should be clear about the stakes if they fail to solve this. the respected and nonpartisan congressional budget office said if they don't solve this in a timely manner we're going to have unemployment back over 9%, and we'll go back into recession. so the stakes are high. i think, in order for the policy airplane to fly over the fiscal cliff it's going to need two wings. one wing is what speaker boehner has said, which is we are going to have to work on revenues and put that on the table. the details are to be defined about that. but at least they're working on it, and there's some acknowledgment around that. but the other wing, of course, is structural spending reform, and containment. and that's going to have to include entitlement reform, and so far there's less progress or less coming together on that issue. but those are clearly the two

main wings that are going to make the airplane fly. >> it's interesting. and i think that sounds very conciliatory and kumbayah and all that, then when you actually start digging into some of the details, let's start with the entitlement spending, i was just talking to senator dick durbin and, you know, he feels that that should be something that, that's tabled for a, for a long-term fix, versus trying to fix it in the next couple or four weeks before we fall off the fiscal cliff. so then that sounds like compromising when you look at taxes, people are talking about deductions, and closing looph e loopholes, but some people stepping away from the idea of actually raising taxes on, on the two top two percent so i guess i'm, i'm confused about, you know, do you think in fact entitlements could be done more thoughtfully and carefully as he puts it down the road? >> of course most of the possible solutions here have been white paper think tank symposium debated considered data ran for a decade or more soledad. so i don't think the options are

a mystery. i think the real question is does the body politic have the will to actually do any of them. and if they don't have the time now at the very least, they should buy themselves a little more time with an extension, agree to some targets and goals, and do a more comprehensive fix after the first of the year. but we'll see. >> governor pawlenty, ron brownstein from national george. yesterday tom cole who is one of the ranking republicans, former head of the national republican congressional committee said that the republicans should accept what president obama is asking for, to extend the tax rates, at the bush levels for all but the top 2% at the end of this year, and litigate the issue of what happens for those at 250 above next year. do you believe republicans should accept that as a way of averting a tax increase on all americans? >> i think many republicans would embrace the idea of some revenues being on the table. but, ron, as there's a dispute about how to best do that. some are saying, look, don't raise rates but we would be willing to limit or reduce exemptions, credits, deductions and exclusions and the like. of course the democrats come

back and say, yes, but you can't really get enough revenue by just doing that so we need a rate increase. that will have to be resolved. at least they're in the same universe in terms of revenues. there's another way, by the way, to also get revenue from the wealthy, if you want. and that is to means test certain aspects of the entitlement programs in the future. and that could be on the table, as well. >> just to be clear, do you believe, does your organization believe, that rates on those at the top will need to go up as part of a final deal in the tax area? >> the membership and my organization hasn't taken a specific position on that. so i can't speak for my -- that organization and their specific views. but i think most of my members would say, they recognize some revenues and we need to be part of the mix. but they haven't taken a position on what specifically would generate those revenues. >> let me ask you a follow-up to that, because one of the things that cole said was he wouldn't see this as a violation of his pledge to grover norquist. so you'd effectively be raising the tax rates for the top 2% but

you technically literally would not exactly be raising those tax rates which would i guess in his mind keep you under that pledge. i guess my question for you would, be did you sign that pledge as governor and would you think this loophole would be enough to get around the signing of the pledge? >> i first ran for governor in 2002. i signed a bunch of pledges including the tax pledge. when i ran for re-election i said i'm not signing any pledges. i'm going to do what's right. i'm not going to get into the game or sign or not sign pledges. look, from president obama's perspective and the democrats perspective, part of the exercise is to get more revenues from the wealthy, there's lots of different ways to do that. it doesn't necessarily need to be rates although it could be. but there's lots of ways to do that. at least they're in the ball park with each other on the revenue side. the thing that i think should be more troubling to people who are watching this debate is the apparent, at least current lack of progress on the entitlement

reform and restructuring side. >> that's where i wanted to pick this up. we can talk about how we're going to make up revenue but we're talking about to use governor pawlenty's metaphor the trim on the wings of his airplane but i'm afraid the news you made this morning soledad is dick durbin seems to be very clear he's not in on one of these wings as governor pawlenty describes him. spending will not be part of the fiscal cliff negotiation, according to senator dick durbin. i wonder, from governor pawlenty's perspective, does that mean we're going over the fiscal cliff then? >> well, i saw the senator's interview while i was waiting here at the cnn in washington, d.c. and you know, he, of course it's early yet by legislative time clock. i don't mean early in terms of the severity of it and the fact that they've got to deal with this but a lot of this is posturing and negotiation and putting markers out and feelers out and trial balloons and the like. so i certainly was hoping for a more specific details from the senator's interview but we've got to give everybody a little latitude because it's a very sensitive topic for the democrats to touch entitlement

programs. it's a very sensitive topic for republicans to touch revenues. and you don't want to push people so far into corners that they feel they have no -- no way out. you've got to let them live and get together in a place where they both can declare some success. >> governor tim pawlenty joining us now, the president and ceo of the financial services roundtable. nice to see you, sir. thanks for talking with us, always appreciate that. still ahead this morning on "starting point" the chairman of the rnc, ready for a quote postmortem. now he's ready for a postmortem? reince priebus says his party needs an autopsy. but naked protesters show up to the house speaker john boehner's office. we'll tell you what was behind that that bare it all kind of protest when the seven of them join us straight ahead. plus you want to know what your must-get gifts are this year? you can upload a picture of yourself or your loved one. even a letter to santa. tell us about the gifts you're hoping for. you can submit your storygraph at cnn.com/starting point and share those here throughout the holidays on cnn.

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its own. the chairman of the republican national committee is ready to break out the scalpel for an election postmortem. reince priebus telling cnn's piers morgan it's time to examine the gop platform like a go coroner examines a corpse. >> we have to look at everything we're doing. you can't draw any quick conclusions other than the fact we lost and we know that. i think in order to get back in the game you've got to look at and do a full autopsy of what happened. what we did well and what we didn't do well, what we can do better in the next year. >> priebus says republicans will be conducting an analysis of the recent election over the next few weeks and will put together a four-year game plan to avoid the mistakes it made this year. you know, that exit polling really was a pretty good autopsy of what people said they were feeling and thinking when they headed to the voting booth. >> the reality is it's somewhat obscured because of 2000. republicans haven't lost the popular vote in five of the past

six presidential elections which was the same record democrats had from '68 to '88. there is a real pattern. there are consistent pat ernst in the way the electorate is dividing. the democrats had the coalition of young people, minorities, college educated whites, especially women. that is a coalition unless republicans disrupt it. >> i totally agree with your analysis. that extends beyond gay marriage or immigration which suggests you have a deeper problem. an economic messaging problem >> real basic. you cannot ignore large groups of people, and actually think you're going to win. >> you all should call reince priebus. >> -- eleven months -- >> come on reince. >> it's just math. you're spotting democrats 80% of the nonwhite population every four years, gets hard. >> still ahead on "starting point" this morning, they showed up naked, the house speaker's office. >> ooh. >> the point that they were trying to get across coming up when all seven join us, fully clothed, we're hoping, straight

ahead.

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so that's what it look ed like awhen a group of seven protesters showed up to house speaker john boehner's office in washington, d.c. yes, we have it blurred a little bit because they are naked. aids rights advocacy groups wanted to take what they call the naked truth straight to the top. we are joined this morning by the naked seven in the flesh, so to speak. cassie gardner, megan mohollan,

leon tyler, nice to have you with us. appreciate your time. how did you get naked into the speaker's office? is that like -- that can't be easy to get access and then take off all your clothes. >> we are constituents. we're not from ohio, but he is the speaker of the house. he is an important person. we walked into his office and we just took off our clothes. >> what was the reaction? because he was not there, but his people must have freaked out a little. >> yes. they all ran into side offices and slammed the doors. and we were just left there for quite a while. >> quite a while. >> you were protesting. you've been protesting the sequestration, which puts a potentially huge cuts in the funding that goes to patients that have aids and their medications. what's the connection between being naked and this important issue? >> a lot of people may wonder

why we got naked but 62,000 people will die, people with aids will die if these budget cuts fall through, calling it sequestration, calling it fiscal cliff literal ly shrouds, using that literally. >> clothes. >> programs that serve people with aids here in the united states. and the thing to remember is that we actually know now -- this is new science -- that we can end the aids pandemic in the next 30 years. how exciting is that? >> but also how depressing is it when you look at this information that comes from the cdc that says more than half of the young people in the united states infected with hiv are not aware of it, people 13 to 24. 13 to 24 account for 26% of all the new hiv infections. those are people who should know better. we've had 30 years of medical

research on this. >> yeah. but we actually can end aids by getting a small cohort of people around the world on to treatment. we have a small window of time. in the past for every new person we were getting on to treatment there were two new hiv infections. so the rate of hiv infections was always outpacing the number of people we could get on to treatment. when people are on treatment it's almost impossible for them to spread the hiv virus. with the tools we have right w now, with the distribution of condoms and hiv medications, you don't have to see statistics like that in 30 years. if these budget cuts go through, we'll be talking about why are these scary statistics coming from the cdc in 30 years. >> they have a lot of hands, not just republican fingers on them. why target speaker boehner as

opposed to targeting the democrats, who i believe many would say are equally responsible of the sequestration and slide down the fiscal cliff. >> president obama has had an uphill battle and speaker of the house boehner try to get some of the problems straightened out. >> you blame him personally? >> i blame the republicans. >> it's important to remember yesterday we were naked inside so we got the taepattention, bu hundreds of people with aids marching around and started their march at the democratic national committee. we couldn't march that fall in the freezing cold rain for people who are sick from the white house over to boehner's office, but the democratic national committee is where we started the march. we absolutely know that it's very possible that democrats will sell us out and will put through -- they're talking about

swapping out cuts to medicaid. medicaid has been struggling for so many years. it's important to remember that people with aids have been stripped naked by budget cuts for really a decade. actually decades. these are not new cuts. medicaid and new york state has been struggling, borrowing from other states, from the government. >> you're really worried about what's going to happen as we go over this cliff. thank you for kochling in. i really want to keep you for keeping your clothes on. i was afraid you may do a strip. >> we thought about it. >> cold studio, too, some people are saying, yeah, yeah. >> thank you for the cheers. still ahead this morning on "starting point" ambassador susan rice heads back to capitol hill today. can she convince any of the republican critics of her explanation for the benghazi attack? ledgend in the music world, dionne warwick will join us. ♪ you can always count on me for

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morning, welcome, everybody. not satisfied. u.n. ambassador, susan rice, will return to the plate today after striking out, essentially, with republicans on capitol hill over benghazi. will she have better luck today? are you feeling lucky yourself? people are talking about how they will spend half a million dollars. little less than that after taxes. talking to some of those folks who are dreaming big this morning. she sold 100 million records and not stopping there. dio nne warwick joins us as she celebrates 50 years in the business. "starting point" begins right now. good morning. welcome, everybody "starting point" team, ron brownstein,

roland martin, host of "washington watch with roland martin." why do i laugh every time you do that? >> i always do it. >> and every time i laugh. will cain is from theblaze.com. you have to come up with something else. >> i'm trying to hook you up. >> not that, please. christine romans joins us with your business. susan rice returns to capitol hill this morning, little more face time with republicans. she's hoping, probably, for better outcome than she had yesterday. elise labbott joins us with details. >> ambassador rice is certainly getting a chance to sharpen her diplomatic skills. mccain, graham and ayotte yesterday said they left their

meetings with ambassador rice more concerned than before. why? because information that the cia had about a possible al qaeda link to the benghazi attack. if you remember, those unclassified talking points the ambassador used in her talk show appearances provided by the cia were stripped of those references to al qaeda and that information was classified so it couldn't be made public. now, after the meeting, ambassador rice said the administration never intended to mislead the american people. but the senators are argue iing ambassador rice should have been more discerning when she went on those talk shows because as a cabinet member she receives intelligence briefings. she told them in the meeting she was aware of this possible al qaeda link and a secretary of state, should she be nominated, needs to be more independent and not just tout the party line. she isn't without her critics -- without her supporters, soledad. white house and democrats on the hill still standing by her and joe lieberman, senator lieberman

also met with her yesterday and said he was satisfied she did nothing that could disqualify her from secretary of state, should the president nominate her. unfortunately for her, senator lieb lieberman is retiring this year so he doesn't get a vote. today she meets with senator susan collins, top republican on the homeland security committee and senator bob corker, republican on the foreign relations committee. both of them said they have some concerns but e willing to hear her out, soledad. >> elise labott, thank you. we appreciate it. member of the foreign relations committee which will vote to confirm the next secretary of state once there has been a nomination. thank you for being with us. >> good morning, soledad. >> you have said in the past -- i'm reading off your press release on saturday, october 27th. you said this. it's becoming more apparent that the administration's lack of truthfulness seems to emanate from a desire to hide something from the american people. you said this along with senator

corker, i should add. almost two months has passed. it's time for the president to timely come clean and order the administration to fully disclose all the communications relevant to the security information in benghazi. surely the deaths of four diplomatic servants warrant that action. do you think ambassador rice should be kept from being secretary of state because of her role in all of this? do you think it's elevated to that? >> first of all, she hasn't been nominated by the president. whether or not she will be, we don't know. >> let's say she is. >> if she is, she will come before the senate foreign relations committee and we'll get the answer to questions. frankly, if we don't get some resolution to the events of benghazi and the death of chris stevens, i doubt she will be confirmed. you don't want to shoot the messenger. she read what she was told to read in those five interviews on that sunday right after benghazi.

she never changed it acid but she never got back on tv to do so. the administration kept over and over and over changing the story and diverting the focus but never answered why was the ambassador murdered? the first murdered ambassador since 1979. why dod we have false information and not have the intelligence we should have had? those are answers the american people need. >> are you shooting the messenger? the question i have had in all of this, do you think ambassador rice is lying? do you think that she willfully is doing something intentionally wrong? i'm trying to understand why she has become the focal point of all of this. >> because she was put on the tip of the spear by the administration. she is a very smart, very intelligent woman. i know and have met miss rice. she has done a good job as the ambassador of the u.n. we have an american ambassador dead, three other americans

dead. you have to ask the question, can i be protected if the same thing happens to me? the administration needs to come forward with the top down, beginning with the president, have a time line that makes sense, find out what we really did know, what we did wrong and make sure we never do it again. >> why is the secretary of the state not getting the bulk of the blame for this? you said you thought she was bright. i believe i'm quoting senator mccain who said not bright and called her incompetent as well. so i don't understand why everyone is not calling hillary clinton on the carpet, which has not happened. she has said the buck stops with her, some version of that. i guess i would love for you to explain that to me. >> quite candidly, in the first briefing that we had it sha-- it the date, but secretary of clinton was the first person in the administration to acknowledge this was a terrorist attack. i think she has been forthcoming in the disclosures that have taken place. it's the administration, even d.i. clapper, national

intelligence director clapper, only a week or so ago that he finally acknowledged they had done the scrubbing of what was released as the talking points. >> roland martin here. now i'm confused. you just said we need to understand about security, why was it in place, but the problem is secretary clinton, that was her department. so that's why i'm confused. is it a question of who acknowledge acknowledged a terrorist tie or who was responsible for prudent security, those kind of issues? that's the fundamental issue. >> maybe a better question to ask of him is this. if she had gone ahead, sir, and said the cia -- and revealed al qaeda, right? the change in the script essentially, the talking points. don't say al qaeda, say extremists. if she had gone ahead and said i know some classified information, let's say al qaeda, wouldn't that have been even more devastating? wouldn't that have been a bigger problem? wouldn't they be after her for that today? >> well, the truth is always

what should be told. the truth and the knowledge of the truth is what everybody should represent, regardless of the consequences of doing it. >> so i guess i don't hear the same calls for the head of someone. i don't hear the same frustration with the cia, which has said that they were the ones who wrote the talking points. i don't hear the same frustration even with the president who said the buck stops with him. i don't hear the same frustration with hillary clinton. will you, in fact -- or even general petraeus, now that this scandal has cost him -- another scandal has cost him his job. it all seems to be falling in the lap of the ambassador of the united nations who was the spok spokesperson going off talking points. >> she was put on the tip of the spear. that's the reason she's upfront. quite frankly, no one else has come forward in the administration. i give the president credit.

he said don't blame her. blame me. that's why i'm saying he needs to give us the questions. why were we not there to protect the ambassador? why did the ambassador lose his life because we could not defend him? why did we not know that that attack was coming? we had evidence there might be an attack. we were unprepared to protect the united states ambassador. that's the answer the administration needs to give us. >> senator johnny isakson joining us this morning. thank you, sir. we appreciate your time. >> you bet, soledad. christine romans has a look at the day's other stories making news. hoping to turn a $2 gamble into a retirement party. $500 million powerball jackpot, the second largest in lottery history. no one has hit the powerball jackpot since early october. 16 consecutive rollovers. lottery official says that should end tonight. now there's only a 5% chance no one will win if sales surge today, as expected.

if you do win, cash value haul is $324 million. the odds of taking home that jackpot, 175 million to one. >> we could be that one, christine! >> alison kosik from times square. good morning, alison. >> reporter: the line is growing, people buying powerball ticket tickets. who doesn't want to be filthy rich, right? you have to be in it to win it. i'm seeing some buy a few here and there. others are buying more than just a few. they're taking their chances even though they're pretty slim at this point, christine. >> alison kosik, slim. essentially one in 175 million. thanks, alison. saudi diplomat killed in yemen. gunmen opened fire on the diplomat's car, killing him and a bodyguard. diplomat said to be stationed at the saudi embassy's military

section in yemen. new developments in the deadly garment fire in banglade bangladesh. three mid-level managers are under arrest. several thousand people are mourning and protesting near the factory, a factory which makes garment for export to places like the united states. 34 days before drastic tax hikes and spending cuts are triggered by the fiscal cliff. speechless. two parties can't seem to make any progress on entitlement reform. earlier on "starting point" senator dick duchlt rbin said this is no time to discuss cuts to medicare, medicaid and social security, but republicans say it's the only way to steer clear of the cliff. >> washington democrats have spent money without any care for the cost or the future. and refuse to do anything to protect long-term spending

programs like medicare, a failure that is among the biggest single drivers of our debt. >> whatever changes we want to make should be thoughtful changes, not made in the heat of the fiscal cliff, not done in the closing days here in a lame duck session. let's lock at this thoughtfully and at the end of the day say that medicare is going to survive and be stronger. >> how can democrats and republicans find common ground? we'll ask the former republican governor of new jersey, christine todd whitman. with bikini bodies strolling along south beach, no surprise that travel & leisure magazine has picked miami as the city with the most attractive people in the country. >> i agree. >> we have a consensus. >> san diego followed by san juan, puerto rico, charleston, south carolina. los angeles. >> too fake. >> come on. >> sorry. >> and there you g.

still ahead on "starting point" the half -- the kid who plays the half in "two and a half men" now kind of, sort of apologizing over the show that he calls filth. he says he's sorry, kind of. we'll share his apology, straight ahead. [ male announcer ] it's that time of year again. time for citi price rewind. because your daughter really wants that pink castle thing. and you really don't want to pay more than you have to. only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. and if it finds one, you get refunded the difference. just use your citi card

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so who is going to blink first? 34 days before we hit that combination of rising tax rates and spending cuts known, aka, as the fiscal cliff. and right now both sides are sort of getting along and yet there's not actually any progress to report. we want to bring in the former republican governor of the state of new jersey, christine todd whitman. it's nice to have you with us. >> it's a pleasure. >> you have said that the fiscal cliff, obviously, effects the economy clearly. how does it affect national security and education, all these other things that you've ticked off as being impacted by

the fiscal cliff that we often don't think about. >> that's what the american security project new report is all about, trying to get people to understand that when the united states falls as it has in the last five years from number one to number seven in competitiveness, that hurts us. it hurts us domestically and internationally. that's part of national security. if we didn't get the message after sandy that our infrastructure is part of national security when you saw how the power outage -- we lost power on our farm for almost two weeks. those things go right to the heart of what keeps this country strong. we need to be competitive and all those feed into national security. so it makes it even more important that our representatives here in washington actually step up and say we have our important things that we believe in very deeply and we're not going to give up on the very basics but we understand we have a bigger job and that's to ensure that the united states is on a good, strong fiscal path because that

affecting everything. >> i'm not feeling super hopeful about that. i'm not a cynical person but you have the tax thing and the entitlement/spending thing. and as much as people seem to be talking about working together, ultimately they seem to, maybe even especially on the entitlements thing, they don't want to put something on the table. they don't really want to give. how do you envision the solving of this issue? >> we've done it in the past. okay. let's go back to the very basics. these are political animals. political animals, they look at polls. look at the latest polls. out there in the countryside, across this country, people are saying we understand. we understand there's got to be a combination of revenue enhancers and cuts. we get it. are we going to complain individually about our projects? are we going to go and undress in speaker boehner's office on aids? sure. but the whole point of being a leader is to step back and say what is going to do the greatest good for the greatest number of

people. and understanding the importance not just individually toim proving the infrastructure, improving education so we're more competitive with stem education, that sort of thing. it's part of a national security issue that's very real for this country and will help push people to make the decisions they need to make. >> how does grover norquist pledge play into all of this, right? if you look at tom saying i don't see it as a pledge. >> however they want to modify that definition of having taken the pledge is fine by me. >> at the end of the day if you're the top 2% you're paying more and will feel like the taxes were raised. is that enough of an out, do you think? >> whatever they want -- however they want to gloss it over is fine by me. taking the pledge. i never took it even though i cut taxes and kept the budget spending low and all those good things and grover's group would

never endorse me because i wouldn't take the pledge. it makes no sense to tie your hands before you know what you may actually be facing and what you're going to have to deal. and now what's happening -- i think it's a good sign as far as the ability to come to some kind of a compromise on the issue of the fiscal cliff. you have thoughtful leaders saying look, we cannot tie our hands this way. i don't care whether they want to say tess a revenue enhancer, it's closing a loophole and that's not really raising a tax. whatever it takes to give yourself some room to negotiate. you can't negotiate if you've said i absolutely won't consider this. >> on both sides. >> on both sides, oh, yes. it's both sides of the aisle. >> it's ron brownstein from the national journal. can i ask you as former governor, how do you feel about the idea of limiting the ability at the top to take itemized tax deductions? many argue it's unfair in coastal state that is have high state and local sales taxes and high property values. the balance between raising

revenue by raising rates and limiting deductions, how should that play out in your mind? >> that will be a tough one. we should start with simplifying the tax code and get arid of a lot of these deductions. you're always going to keep mortgage deduction on your primary home. you certainly don't need it on a secondary residence. there are other areas where you can vastly simplify the tax code. looking at developing an infrastructure bank on part of the federal government to try to provide the resources to help to rebuild. then we'll have to rebuild smarter, too. that's all going to be part of it. those are part of the recommendations in the american security project proposal we're putting out today. >> christine todd whitman is the president whitman strategy group and former governor of the state of new jersey. nice to have you with us. >> my pleasure. >> thanks for your time. still ahead on "starting point," biting the hand that feeds him millions of dollars, literally, the kid from "two and a half men" now says he's sort

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welcome back, everybody. kind of a rewrite from the kid in "two and a half men." angus t. jones is his name. now he is saying sorry, kind of, sort of, after he called his own show filth and told viewers he should not watch t a statement was released. and it says this. i apologize if my remarks reflect me showing indifference and disrespect of my colleagues and a lack of appreciation of the extraordinary opportunity of which i have been blessed. i never intended that. former co-star charlie sheen, who was fired from the show, you might remember -- we talked

about that for a long time. he weighed in saying it is radically clear to me that the show "two and a half men" is cursed. >> very different animals here, right? roland pointed out yesterday it's hard to be too tough on anybody trying to reconcile what they do with their values. >> and at 19. >> maybe he did it in an improper and abrupt way. >> i watched the entire video yesterday. you can tell here is someone trying to go deeper within his faith, reading the bible, reading about different things. when he says you have to be 100% all in. if i can't be totally for god i might as well die. so i understand individuals who are trying to grow spiritually. that was a publicist statement that was written. the bottom line is the kid is trying to grow in his faith. >> calling your own show filth,

don't do it again. ponzi scheme in afghanistan. hundreds of millions of dollars from regular folks' bank accounts and how they are actually tied to karzai's government. >> there is a shock. your best bet for hitting the jackpot in tonight's largest ever powerball? we'll give you a tip coming up. step one, buy a ticket. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 let's talk about low-cost investing.

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morning. welcome back, everybody. widespread corruption at kabul bank in afghanistan, an audit obtained by "the new york times" calle calls it a well conceived ponzi scheme from regular folks' savings accounts is what i'm trying to say. political interference is making it harder to get to the bottom of this colossal scam. kabul bank is where a lot of the

u.s. reconstruction money has been deposited. following several reports about this, nick paton walsh joins us. >> taken to unravel this complicated paper trail that led to $900 million disappearing, staggering level of detail about how this fraud carried out. 19 companies or people benefiting from this amount of money. one individual claiming almost to have nearly $300 million siphoned off to him. false paper trails, lavish expenses claimed. salary for the brother of a senior manager of $96,000 a year for a man who never did a day's work for the bank. money being taken out of the country in an airliner, in the airplanes, on food trays in that commercial airliner simply because there was so much of it. remarkable details here. the key thing, as you mentioned, the suggestion of political interference, trying to hamper this investigation. requested as it was by the afghan ministry of finance.

key to that are implications of the president of afghanistan, hamid karzai's inner circle being implicated in this. one of the people mentioned in this report is his brother. he denies involvement in this, saying it's a politically motivated system. >> nick patten walsh for us this morning with an update. thank you. appreciate it. christine romans has your business headlines. >> failed meeting of three of her harshest republican critics. ayotte, mccain and graham say they're still troubled by her comments on benghazi. officials in southern louisiana say a giant sink hole is burping. you heard that right. we've been following this story

since it has swallowed up trees, threatening homes. officials in assumption parish say the sinkhole is pushing vegetation and debris back up to the surface. they say that process is called burping. four american service women are suing the pentagon, hoping to force the military to drop its policy that excludes women from thousands of ground combat positions. all four are veterans of the wars in iraq and afghanistan. two have been awarded the purple heart. they maintain that the exclusion rule is discriminatory. >> i would be assigned positions based on my gender rather than my qualifications. it didn't make sense for me personal personally or professionally and it doesn't make sense for the military. >> a dangerous set of rule that is prevent commanders deciding the best way to fight.

yahoo!'s new ceo is headed to the white house to discuss the fiscal cliff with the president. her new gig and her new son have been full of surprises. >> baby has been easy. the baby has been way easier than everyone made it out to be. i think i've been really lucky that way. i had a very easy, healthy pregnancy. he has been easy. so those have been two really terrific surprises. the kids have been easier and the job has been fun. >> mayer says her secret to getting everything done is ruthless prioritizing. she made a lot of headlines, came from google. young ceo of yahoo! and said i'm pregnant. i only need a couple of weeks off and women within yahoo! said -- >> ridiculous. >> agreed. i took four weeks off with my first kid. that was appropriate for me at that time. the job i had. i don't know why everybody would

care. plus they had -- she's got more money than god. she can hire a babysitter. >> you've got four kids. the baby is always easy in the beginning. >> wait until he's 2. >> wait till he's 13. >> i will take that overseas trip. >> put me on a plane in first class. >> to singapore. >> i want to go. >> one person who is not buying a lottery ticket? >> she doesn't need a lottery ticket. she does not need a lottery ticket. >> no way. >> no matter who you are. >> exactly. you know, you cannot whip it unless you're in it. that's how it goes. the nation's largest powerball jackpot is tonight. half a billion dollars. half a billion dollars. no surprise people are lining up to buy tickets, 10,000 tickets every minute. revenue from sales are expected to top $1 billion. it has rolled over 16 consecutive times without a winner. will tonight be the night? i'm confident i'm going to win.

if i'm not here tomorrow, that's what's happened. here to tell us exactly what the tips are to win is the florida lottery secretary, cynthia o o'connell. thank you for being with us. the odds are really, really bad, like 175 million to one. that doesn't stop people at all. it never does. why do you think that is? >> well, i think it's just the excitement for the game. americans love a jackpot. and this particular jackpot brings in core players, new players. it's exciting. a whole lot of fun. in florida, this is powerball country but i think it's powerball country nationwide. >> it definitely is. people all over the place are trying to figure out how to win this thing. $500 million now. it's expected to go to $1 billion because so many people are thinking they can jump in and win at this point. do you think it's going to go to $1 billion? >> we'll look at the sales this morning and perhaps make an adjustment. that's a big number.

i think $500 million is a big number all in itself. >> a billion is a big number. that's why i'm playing, obviously. go ahead. >> you talked about billion dollars. some folks out there are wondering, in florida, does the money go to education? where does the money go to for these states? >> it absolutely does go to education. what's so great about this amazing jackpot, not only the excitement it generates but for all 44 member lotteries that are part of powerball, the beneficiaries, the good causes, the charitable causes for each state. will it gain additional revenue. that's the good news about the jackpot. >> what are the keys? >> odds, 1 in 175 million. we always analogize this to weather, being struck by lightning. take a random woman in this country and say ron, guess her name. your odds of getting her name

correctly are the same odds of winning this number. >> is it better to pick a number yourself or better to let the machine pick your number for you? what do you think? >> i think it's better to choose the numbers that are your favorite numbers. >> yeah, but do you win -- >> a lot of individuals choose quick picks. a lot of individuals play their lucky numbers. it's the luck of the draw. most important thing is to play, which i hope each of you will. >> how many numbers does it go up to? what's your range of numbers? >> excuse me. >> one to 60 or something like that, can you pick? >> one to 59, match five of five and one to 35 for powerball. >> in your state and most states, is there a requirement that lottery revenue produce a net increase in education spending or simply substitute for and allow you to remove education funding that the state would have provided otherwise? >> that's a legislative issue. the state of florida just last year alone, fiscal 2010,

2011-2012, we transferred $1.23 billion to the state of florida. we're on track this year to -- we're on track this year to transfer $1.37. >> does that allow the state to redeploy funds elsewhere? >> that's an interesting question. does that allow them to take it out of the budget and put it elsewhere? >> is it a requirement that the net increase from the revenue of the lottery in florida? >> we're about 6% of the total funding for the florida education budget. so we give as much as we can but we're only 6%. we try to grow that every year. >> interesting. >> vast majority of lotteries are split. there's like four winners. the reason i asked about the range of numbers, most people pick range of one to 30. very few people pick that 30 to 59 range. >> what do i do with that information? >> you're paying two bucks or five bucks. you're not paying because you

think you're really going to win the lottery. you're paying for the experience, right? >> no, your paying to try to win, christine. >> you're not going to win, roland. >> somebody is going to win, christine. >> it's going to be me. when i'm not here tomorrow morning. >> send in an autographed copy of -- >> there's got to be a better way to get ahead in america than the office pool. >> but that's a fast way. >> that's true. >> i'm just saying. >> we appreciate your time, cynthia. hopefully, you and i can chat later when i'm signing my check or whatever it is i have to do when i win. more ahead this morning. bad news if you're going to travel during the holiday this is year. travel during the holidays is always awful. >> every day. >> that's true. and music legend 50 years in the business upped her belt. dionne warwick has a new cd out and she has a preview. from unitedhealthcare. with this plan, you can get copays as low as a dollar

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if paid in full within 18 months. america's gift headquarters. walmart. welcome back to "starting poin point." i'm christine romans, minding your business. u.s. stock futures are down. fiscal cliff negotiations in washington and health of the u.s. economy and the health of your housing investment is recovering in much of the country. new home sales numbers come out today. we learned yesterday that home prices posted their biggest gains in more than two years in the third quarter according to s&p/case-shiller. top five cities showing the strongest gains. in phoenix, up more than 20%.

in minneapolis, about 9%. losing some traction, new york and chicago. chevy spark and sonic rs models will come complete about apple siri system built into the cars. general motors announced that this week at the auto show. voice-activated system called eyes free, make calls, texting, listen to your calendar appointments and itunes library all while you're driving. holiday air fare expected to go up 8% compared to last year according to the travel site orbitz. the earlier you book, the better. >> to put all of these together, does that mean you can now ask your car, do you know the way to san jose? >> way to go. >> is that right? to pull all the different threads together. >> you need a time-out. >> i'm sorry. i'm sorry. >> i support that.

so this morning we're talking about trans-racial adoptions, families of one race adopting a child of another race. they've gone up steadily over the years. questions often come up whether it's in the best interest of the child. for example, can families protect their adopted children from racist attitudes? jason carroll explores that very question in today's "black in america". >> reporter: frank somerville is a news anchor in california. he is used to hearing from the public. when he posted a picture doing his daughter's hair on facebook he and his wife, donna, were overwhelmed. >> the facebook page lit up and it kept going and going and going. >> i think it hit a racial core. i think it also hit a father/daughter cord. >> reporter: eight years ago, the somervilles adopted cali, a decision that raised tough questions about themselves. >> there's a baby out there that needs a mommy and a daddy. if we all of a sudden back out because we're scared that this

happens to be a black baby, what does that say about us? >> reporter: they cherish watching cal ichi's play time w older sister, sydney. but know as she gets older there will likely be challenges. trans-racial adoptees can experience a lack of cultural identity. >> we dealt with it. my mom always turned everything that was an obstacle into confidence. >> reporter: helped world renowned chef samuelson, ethiopian, adopted by swedish parents. >> race, definitely has a place. >> reporter: brought up with a strong sense of self, samuelson now feels home in harlem where he lives and has a restaurant. somervilles say being open about race and having black role models in cali's life will help when the challenges do come. >> there are differences and celebrate the differences. >> reporter: for now, for this family, that is enough. jason carroll, cnn, oakland,

california. >> documentary which is called "who is black in america?" will air sunday december 9th at 8:00 pm and reair 11:00 pm eastern time right here on cnn. our fifth installation. >> it's a big deal. >> hair is a very big deal. if it's going to be hair that stands in the way of adopting a child? >> probably figure out a way over it. >> i think we can. i think we can. >> comb. walk on by. say a little prayer. that's what friends are for. she has been a hit maker for decades. dionne warwick will join us to talk about her new album. that's coming up next. ♪ walk on by i have a cold, and i took nyquil,

but i'm still stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't unstuff your nose. what? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels speeds relief to your worst cold symptoms plus has a decongestant for your stuffy nose. thanks. that's the cold truth!

in bad times i'll be on your side forever more yeah that's what friends are for ♪ >> dionne warwick sold 100 million records in her five-d k five-decade long career featuring literally hit after hit after hit. now this five-time grammy winner is celebrating her 50th anniversary in the business with a newly released cd titled now. >> look at that. black don't crack. look at that. >> you look amazing. you sound amazing. >> thank you. >> so what is the secret to longevity in a business that is very fickle? people fail constantly. five decades. >> i really attribute to the songs i've been able to sing, the messages that are within

those particular lyrics that have been given to people. and now we need to start practicing it, things that i have been very, very fortunate. i've had two of the most prolific songwriters of our time really at the beginning of our career and fortunately have met some other incredible writers, composers and producers. >> why record songs? often people put out -- you've done 22 greatest hits albums. 22, that's just greatest hits albums. that's not even all the albums. it's like 37 albums overall. is it an ownership issue? syndy lauper was saying the way to own it is to rerecord them.

>> that is the only way to own them. they're really mine now. >> which one is your favorite? if you had to pick one song, which one? >> i can't. >> oh, come on. >> i really can't. >> every artist says the same thing. >> it's difficult when you look at every single record that's successful, how are you going to choose one over the other? they're like my children. these are my babies. >> you worked with great songwriters and for decades. what is that process like? are you part of shaping and kind of understanding what works for you and what they write? >> whatever they send for me to record and if i feel it's something i want to say or could give justice to, i will accept it. if i don't, they get it back. >> classic music, i always use this test. what will we play at family reunions in 20 or 30 years?

and do you talk to artists today and say you might want to think about that? because they want to play your music. >> hon bun, let me tell you something, these babies -- that's exactly what they are, have been given so much leverage, i can't tell them anything. they feel they can tell me now, you know. and i keep saying -- oh, you're old school. i have to remind them that if it wasn't for old school there wouldn't be a new school. >> who do you listen to? >> i listen to my peers. mathis, gladys, jeffrey osbourne, the ojs. and i listen to a lot of brazilian music. >> you said this recording was a blessing after the death of whitney houston. >> yeah, it was. it was something that, first of all, took my mind off of the tragedy itself. and in so doing, people who have

been supportive of this career for as long as they have just did this. the biggest embrace i could get, saying i'm praying for you and the family, of course. we, of course, will miss her. we want you to be strong and you're healthy and we can still see you and hear you. it makes a lot of difference when people do that. >> you're amazing. it's such great to have you. my father has a giant crush on you. i would be remiss if i didn't out him on tv. >> hope mommy doesn't mind. >> my mother has lived with it for many years. i think she's cool with it now. thank you for joining us this morning. >> thank you. >> congratulations on your new album "now." >> own your master. >> that's the deal. it really is. >> "end point" is up in a moment.

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